One of the primary concerns in operating a network of mobile vehicles, such as buses in a transit network, is a reliable system of communications between the vehicles and the central dispatching station or headquarters. Of primary concern is maintaining communications without disruption from geographic features, such as hills, radio towers, and large buildings. Another concern is the load on the system, particularly the channels available, as the number of vehicles increases.
One known system of maintaining communications is to use some form of channel-switching procedure that engages additional channels as required to deal with the traffic load. To ensure geographic coverage, a procedure of switching channels to handle traffic load and switching to different relay towers for increased range, such as that shown in U.S. Pat. No. 6,370,381 issued to Minnick et al., may be used.
In some cases, a backup system is also provided in the event that the primary communications system is unavailable. The backup system may operate using the same communications method or, rarely, using a different communications method from the primary system.
However, given that scope of potential options for communications systems, as well as the increased demands for both bandwidth and channel, a more sophisticated and robust communications system is needed. Ideally, such a communications system would be capable of selecting from a wide range of different communications methods to provide for increased compatibility and reliability.
Furthermore, any such communications system is ideally capable of engaging in the method selection process according to parameters set by the end user and being capable of customized for specific vehicles and specific classes of vehicles.
It is an object of this invention to partially or completely fulfill one or more of the above-mentioned needs.